CapeBreton-NorvellHimself-SingleMalt: June 2014

Feeding The Babies

Little Jenny Wren brings home the bacon - to the nest under my porch roof

- And Old Brer Fox He Didn't Say Nothin

This Is My Kind of Development

While at my great-granddaughter's 2nd birthday party I wandered with camera in hand around my daughter's lovely home yard and this pollared tree, one of several lining her drive, caught my eye by its' unique growth since being pollared many years ago by the original owner and on closer inspection the oozings of the deep amber coloured sap brought jeweled thoughts to my mind of ancient amber deposits and millennium old insects trapped therein (Amber is fossilized tree resin (not sap), which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects.Amber is used as an ingredient in perfumes, as a healing agent in folk medicine, and as jewelry.
There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents. Because it originates as a soft, sticky tree resin, amber sometimes contains animal and plant material as inclusions. Amber occurring in coal seams is also called resinite, and the term ambrite is applied to that found specifically within New Zealand coal seams) so not knowing if I am looking at sticky sap or sticky resin I can only dream about this particular lump of jewel like mass somehow being fossilized and found by what ever intelligent life that may exist that geological time into the future.

As always I have used the amazing Wikipedia - a free noncommercial site - for some of my information so if you are of that mind set that admires and supports such things then please donate to their website to keep them around.

Mushroom w/Poison Ivy

Blades of Grass

Shades of Day

Daydream in Cape Breton

Oak Tree Struck By Lightning - II

The lightning strike that blasted this oak naturally went from bottom to top instantly vaporizing the sap to steam blowing away the bark along its' pathway - although I didn't get a good photo of the damage at the very top, visually it is evident that one of the major branchings at the top is dead - leaves hanging brown and lifeless. Whether the tree will survive or just become another contributor to my fire wood supply remains to be seen.

Summer's Here - II

Along the dry-creek bed a few remaining small pools of water have their froggy inhabitants still hanging on - last night a summer storm with lots of heavy lightning and thunder gave us a good down pour which has probably given these pools a longer life

1880

Barack Obama

Barack Obama in high school via the internet

Summer's Here

the run-off creek bed is going dry right on schedule - a run-off that is not spring fed is a small flowing rill about six to seven months of the year but as summer moves in to swing the rains taper off and the back line 'dry creek' goes dry.

Some Interesting Bottles

Oak Tree Struck By Lightning

The Rolling Stones - 1963

from the internet

Game Horse Shoes

Black Widow Spider w/Egg Sack

I was using the push mower around the tree and rough bench that is near my Horse-Shoe Pitch toward the woods at the back of the house - when moving the loose plank from the two support slabs I found this little lady underneath. Now I have to consider my rule of thumb on killing things which is basically "If it is not in the house leave it alone!"